A Taste Test for Kids: See It, Smell It, Taste It!

A taste test for kids is a fun, and kind of sneaky, way to get kids to try new foods. Plus, it’s a wonderful sensory activity that lets them observe, smell and taste!

I often think of sensory activities to do with touch, but there’s much more than that, and this is wonderful to have kids explore.

I recently got a new blender. I’m so excited; I’ve been wanting one for quite a while so we could make smoothies. And hopefully to try to sneak some foods into my kids that they normally wouldn’t eat (like all the vegetables…).

As you may already know, I’m a 2014 ambassador for JCPenney, which just stokes me. They’re an incredible brand to be behind.

The last Designer Day is this Wednesday 7/30 in Dallas with designer David Bromstad – make sure to submit your questions!

Lately, I’ve been working on adding color to my home. Up until the last year or so, I’ve been buying neutrals upon neutrals, thinking I wanted to have pieces that will last through all the trends. But it turns out that’s pretty boring. So when I stopped by JCPenney to grab a blender, I was so excited to see all the fun colors! I got a small Cooks blender in a fun teal color (it also came in purple, stainless steel and red). It looks so fun and festive on my kitchen counter.

But what’s more exciting is that my kids and I have been testing out all the different kinds of smoothies we can make.

We haven’t gotten too fancy yet, just trying out fruits for now. We’ve even made a rainbow of smoothies and learned about mixing colors with fruit!

We also did a simple taste test for kids to guess with just single fruits blended.

It was funny to see George be so against trying them, but then liking them after he did. He can be a little stubborn, so the fact that he tried them was a huge win! And he even liked the blueberries even though he normally won’t eat them.

I blended up six different fruits in small quantities and poured each into a small dish.

I used a banana, blueberries, grapes, watermelon, strawberries and kiwi.

From there, I labeled each dish 1-6 and had a key for myself, though it was pretty obvious to me which was which. But having an ‘answer key’ was the cherry on the top for Henry. Being able to check his answers against the correct answers made it much more fun than just Mom telling him the correct ones.

The boys each had a pencil and paper to write down their answers. (I wrote George’s for him.) I am so glad I added this element of having Henry write his answers because that’s one thing he hasn’t done a lot of this summer with school out. It made me realize it’s something we need to do more often.

We started with #1 and each boy smelled and tasted it, as well as observed the color and texture.

The blueberries were harder to guess than I thought they would be. They’re Henry’s favorite fruit, so I thought it was be easy. But he thought they were grapes. When he got to the grapes container, he knew those were grapes, so I questioned him.

If #4 is grapes, than what could #2 be? Would you like to smell and taste it again?

The watermelon was obvious to them by just looking. It was really watery. And George spotted the seeds right away. But taste confirmed it.

George refused to taste ‘the green one.’ It was green and could be peas… (Even though he normally eats peas.) But overall, I’m very happy that he tried as many as he did. It’s a step in the right direction for him.

I’m not concerned with whether I bought the right blender or not; it worked great for everything we’ve tried so far! And it’s easy enough for the kids to help.

But I am concerned if I bought the right color. I’m a Fiestaware collector (the original colors) and will be soon redesigning my kitchen to go with those colors, so that was my thought for this blender.

Now, how about a chance to win a $100 JCPenney Gift Card?!

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When updating kitchen decor how do you recommend additional fun colorful accents without buying new sets of dishes/pans every year? I have had black plates and bowls and cups and glasses for years and am getting sick of the all black but do not want to buy new dishes.